The Revenant

The End

ESKARINA

The smell of ash,smoke and burnt flesh filled my nostrils with each breath I took. Nova had been crying...I wanted more than anything to comfort him. To tell him I was sorry. That it was out of my control. His mother had already been battling cancer, and now,she was just a few feet away from me, her carcass burnt to a crisp.

I nooked my arrow, drawing half way back on the bowstring.

"Esk..."

Don't listen...

"Esk look at me."

I shook my head,drowning him out and aimed my shot toward my target. I drew back on the bowstring as far as I could, then hesitated.

Blood streamed from his eye's, and he sobbed while he pulled on the chains.

"Don't do this...please..."

I don't want to...I really don't want to...but they'll kill my family if I don't.

"Esk...they made me kill Rey..." Nova sobbed, "They made me kill my brother...I tore him apart..."

"I'm sorry Nove..."

I blinked my tears away,taking deep breaths to calm myself,steady my shot.

"You're the only person I trust Esk-"

"I have to do this!" I yelled, "Don't you see Nove?"

My eye's darted to Roman,who sat beside Lukas and Bilquise. All around my family were guards,all armed with swords drawn.

"I don't have a choice..."

Nova's head lowered, "What do you mean?"

They have my family Nove...they have my fucking family...I don't want to do this. I don't want to do it!

I wanted to tell him,but I feared that Roman might kill my family if I publicly told everyone the Emperor was pulling strings to have Nova executed for his own means.

"I'm sorry..."

That was all I could muster. All I could say to comfort him. I wished I could do more...but that was all I could do.

"Does Nova have any last words before his death?" Sylvas asked.

Nova was silent, and right as Sylvas turned away,he spoke.

"Wait."

His voice trembled. He sobbed loudly. But his voice was different. It was a tone I'd never heard from Nova before.

"This isn't the end..." He said.

He raised his head,revealing his undead face to us. His teeth were biting down tightly against eachother,drool ran from his mouth. Black veins easily showed throughout his body,from his cheeks down to his neck, and he glared at us while blood gently ran down his cheeks.

"It's not over...I'm going to come back...I will return...and when I do, I'm going to slaughter every last person who lives in this fucking city. Every last one of you who called my mother a witch, every last person who begged for my death. I'm going to raze this city to the ground and build a new city a top the corpses of every citizen sitting here today..."

His head lowered again.

"Do it."

My arms were shaking. My aim fell off. My vision was blurred by the tears in my eye's. I could hear Pauline crying. Tyrese and Sven had to keep her from doing anything rash.

I didn't want this...

"Do it Esk!" He said,raising his head. "COME ON! DO IT! KILL ME! DO IT!"

You're my koala damnit...

Everyone's cries around me fell silent, and it was as if Nova's voice telling me to end his life was the only thing I could hear.

"DO IT! FUCKING FIRE THAT ARROW ESKARINA! SHOOT IT!"

I don't want to...I don't want to!

"DO IIIT!"

I let out a yell and let go of the bowstring. The arrow flew true, and struck Nova straight through his chest. His eye's widened and he looked down at the arrow. He then looked back up at me and mouthed a phrase. It broke me,watching him mouth those words as his life ebbed away.

He fell back,falling over the cliff. The chains which bound him to the floor ripped out of their hinges, allowing him to fall. I rushed to the edge, watched his corpse crash against the cliffside, bones snapping and body disfiguring before he fell into the river below,his body vanishing beneath the raging waters.

He never surfaced.

I stood there,looking at those waters,wondering if I'd done the right thing. My family was let go, and they went home as soon as they were allowed to.

I stayed there for hours. While everyone left,I remained,staring at those waters,hoping he'd surface. But he never did. Even if he did,Nova would've drowned from being underwater that long, and I hadn't seen his body flow downstream or get carried away.

I did see his body break. Heard his skull shatter. Saw his heart break when I fired.

His words ran through my mind, his promise that he would come back someday.

I wished he could,but I knew he was dead. No one could survive a fall like that. If not the fall,the blood loss from the arrow would kill him...

I spent that night in what used to be our dorm room. Now I was the only one there. It was just me...his clothes were still there. His favorite coat lay on the chair.

I went through his belongings. It felt wrong,but I never had anything of him. Until I found something. A small packet tucked away in the back of his cupboard. I opened it,checking inside.

There was a note, that simply read:

For farm girl. You trained well. Here's a reward. A trinket if you will. So that you always know you have incredible potential.

A charm bracelet. Each charm represented something from me. My bow,love of archery, a dog for my love of animals, and strangely enough, there was a sword. That,I could never figure out. What was the significance of the sword on the charm bracelet?

I never knew...but I felt that this bracelet was the only thing I had to remember Nova by. So I slipped it over my wrist. It fit perfectly round my wrist.

I lay back on the bed,crying softly to myself.

All the while, the last words Nova mouthed to me before he died stayed stuck in my mind.

I wanted him to tell it to me. To hear his voice say it. But now I couldn't. And I realised,I would never truly know what it was he always wanted to tell me. He always said it wasn't the right time...and now there was no time...

And I guessed his true thoughts and feelings about me,would forever remain unknown to me.

TO BE CONTINUED IN REVENANT:BOOK 2.